A Renaissance in Public Display of Native Art & Culture — Isleta Pueblo Part II

Corn Maiden

Continuing south on N.M. 47, we pass the Corn Maiden statue on the west side of the highway. This statue, titled, “The Raindrops of Bounty,” was designed by Robin Teller and fabricated in glass-fiber-reinforced concrete by Landscape Structures in Delano, Minnesota.

Teller comes from a long line of potters, including her mother, Stella, whose pottery has been exhibited all around the world. Robin began her artistic career as a potter at the tender age of eight. She specializes in storytellers and nativity scenes with a unique Native American approach, human and animal figures, and unique polychrome jars and bowls.

The Corn Maiden, or Corn Mother, is a universal presence among the Puebloan peoples. Each pueblo has a slightly different accounting of her story. In some, she is treated as a witch but gives the people corn seeds before she is killed. In others, she is a goddess that returns to the Great Spirit after been mistreated by the people but leaving the secret of the corn behind. A version written by Isletan Tony Abeita goes as follows:

“The Corn Maidens are said to have been a necessity created by the Great Spirit in the palm of his right hand.Recognizing that man was vulnerable to the Earth in that he could not easily determine what life forms would sustain his body, the Great Spirit dictated that each Corn Maiden created would come in the presence of each clan and offer them one seed of corn.He instructed that this seed would give them all that they would need.He informed them that with love like that given to a child, this tiny seed would sustain the entire tribe forever.

It is said that the seed was taken and put into the earth.Though many were skeptical of this, they did as they were instructed.It is said that when this took place many stood around the small mound created around the seed.As the Corn Maiden sang her song of faith and love, it is said that the people were touched and began to feel this love in their hearts.As they stared at the small mound, some gave it water while others caressed the soil around it as they also began to sing.

Soon, this seed emerged from the soil-at first slender and fragile, much like an infant.Then it began to grow with beauty, love, and strength as if taking the form of a child.With much guidance from the wind, from man’s touch, from man’s prayers and from his heart, it grew tall and strong.As unbelieving as the people once were, they now began to see the essence and the beauty of the message.With much of the skepticism overcome, the people were then able to open their hearts and strengthen their faith.At that point, in an almost synchronistic manner, as the people began to open and trust, so too did the mature ears of corn begin to appear.From that point on, the Corn Maidens would be with them as God is with them, in spirit only.”

In many renderings, the Corn Maiden is portrayed with a kachina head dress to protect her as she traveled among the Pueblos. Teller’s unique version with the characteristic storyteller face depicts her with a feathered head dress. Her stunning statue reflects the importance of corn to the people and shows the rain and lightning that nourish the crop.

The Tribal Complex

Further to the south, we come to the Tribal Services Complex. The building was designed by Rohde May Keller McNamara Architecture of Albuquerque. The architects describe the structure that overlays the Tribal Council Room as … abstractly referencing traditional Native American “jacal,” a historical structure of the Southwest, with walls of close-set wooden stakes plastered with mud and roofed with straw, rushes, etc.

However, many of the Isleta people see it as an unfinished basket.

Pueblo Elder Center

Tribal Road 40 runs north-south in the center of the pueblo. South of the governor’s office complex is the pueblo’s Elder Center.

In the center of the driveway is another Caroline Lucero-Carpio statue of a woman making a corn offering. The Elder Center administration requested a statue of a “woman” and wanted her to represent something of a “mother.” Therefore, Lucero-Carpio developed the woman offering the basket holding five ears of colored corn to represent the corn societies of the village. These groups are ritual units like kiva groups, functioning for personal crises and societal ceremonies.

On the rear portion of the center is another Ron Olguin sculpture titled “Isleta Life” with many of the same cultural images that are found on his sculptures along N.M. 47.

Pueblo Cultural Center

Just south of the Elder Center is the newly-remodeled Cultural Center. Center director Stephanie Zuni and pueblo historical and archeological consultant Dr. Henry Walt have assembled “Time Exposures,” a 19th century photographic exhibit of historical photographs and artifacts that trace the nineteenth century history of the pueblo. Much of the exhibit is interactive.

The exhibit was originally assembled in 2009 and traveled internationally until 2019 when it returned home to Isleta. The exhibit includes images by several prominent photographers from the 19th and 20th centuries, including Charles Fletcher Lummis and the first motion picture filmed at in New Mexico, which was made by Thomas Edison.

The exhibit includes images and detailed descriptions of the historic church of St. Augustine, the monumental efforts by leaders such as Pablo Abeita and Miguel Trujillo to gain sovereignty and voting rights for Native Americans, and many images showing the daily lives of the people in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The exhibits are organized around the lunar calendar as a reflection of the historical religious festivals that have been practiced at the pueblo for hundreds of years.

The Cultural Center also displays current work by Pueblo potters, weavers and artists.

Everyone is encouraged to not only view the products of these local artists as you drive by the sculptures or walk by the exhibits in the casino on your way to the slot machines, but to take a deeper dive into learning the history and culture that underpins these works of art. The museum at the Cultural Center would be a wonderful place to start!

(La Historia del Rio Abajo is a regular column about Valencia County history written by members of the Valencia County Historical Society.

The author of this month’s column is John Taylor, a retired engineer from Sandia National Laboratories and board member of the Valencia County Historical Society. He is the author or co-author of twenty-one books on New Mexico history, including “Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem in the Rio Abajo,” “A River Runs through Us,” “Tragic Trails and Enchanted Journeys,” “Mountains, Mesas, and Memories,” “Years Gone by in the Rio Abajo,” and “History Surrounds Us,” all co-edited with Dr. Richard Melzer.

This is the second of the two-part article that introduces the readers to the some of the statuary and art of Isleta Pueblo that is available to the public along Route 47. Opinions expressed in this and all columns of La Historia del Rio Abajo are the author’s only and not necessarily those of the Valencia County Historical Society or any other group or individual.)